6:35Introductions:

·Greetings and Introductions

·Approval of Agenda (MG, KS; approved with corrections.)

·Approval of September 11th, 2014 minutes (MG, LD) with
corrections: review and update names under attendance, based on sign-in sheet.;
with addition of Louise’s comment added to 7:15 Motion… “Some members who
opposed this plan stated that the plan didn’t reflect the survey results.” And
change “diverse person” to “person”.

7:00 Neighborhood Update on Crime
(moved up from 7:10)

East
Phillips stats: What we’ve seen since 9/1, 11 robberies, 1 was aggravated (used
a weapon. The things wanted the most were cell phones and cash. 5 burglaries,
including 1 business, 3 at night. Larcenies – 19 (theft) including 5 motor
vehicles. Narcotics – 9 reports; prostitution – 3; disorderly conduct – 53. The
crime is showing up around the edges of EPIC, but no patterns appeared.

Code
4 areas include Bloomington & Lake, and Chicago & Lake. Cert Unit has
done multiple things along Lake St. and surrounding blocks, and making
prostitution and john arrests, car to car transactions, tagging for loitering
with intent, etc.

Christine
McPhereson, 911 supervisor, regarding non-English speaking crime reporting. CP
followed up and made a request that the “language request” get moved up to the
top of the menu.

MOTION: (MK, CP,
Approved) EPIC will send a letter to 911 supervisor to make the first option on
the menu, do you want to have another language, such as Spanish, Somali.)

MOTION:
(MG,
JB, Approved) EPIC will meet as a committee of the whole.

Probation
officer reported that most of her subjects are from West Phillips.

7:15Parking
and Crime issues on 2800 blocks 16th Ave.
(Moved up from 7:45)

Michael Green presented that there is a parking problem on
the 2800 block of 16th Ave. A transit handicapped space was placed
many years ago where a resident is no longer residing. City has said they

can’t remove the space, but the police don’t actually
enforce it. There is an auto repair facility on the street that regularly parks
vehicles on the street, on the bridge; construction crews are parking in the
street; there are over-occupied properties; there are now no-parking signs
along 29th Street; the no-parking sign on the bridge has
disappeared; the Greenway Heights building presents an additional source of
cars on this street. Some residents are interested in critical parking
(residents receive permits to park on the street.) MGreen intends to work with
neighbors to pursue this type of parking; MGreen also wants to address the
missing signs problem.

See tape for discussion, questions, etc.

MOTION: (MG, JB, Approved
with 1 opposed.) EPIC will write a letter asking, if parking is illegal, and if
it is unwise to park on the bridge, and the neighborhood is complaining about
parking on the bridge, will the City please replace the no parking signs on the
bridge?

LL reported that there was one meeting with 6 people present.
The vests presented last month are being printed with the EPIC logo and the
group that met had a presentation from Don Greeley (completed training), and CP
ordered a resource book for ambassadors that can help with resident
communications. If anyone wants to be part of the Ambassador program, Jenny and
Will are co-chairing this group.

CP noted that the Ambassador program is not the same as a
crime patrol (which some EPIC residents will participate in. Safety officer
commented that crime patrols should alsways notify police when they will be out
on patrolNoted that Lt. May is
probably the point person.

·Progress
on 25th Street Beautification Barrier

The
16th Ave block club are in favor of keeping the barrier and want to
participate in some way; they are willing to help keep up a barrier. Doug
Vander is the coordinating this for the block club.

CP
went to 10th & Lake St. and took photos of a “berm” that was
constructed – this is a permanent barrier and it looks really nice. It is
probably no more expensive than purchasing planters. Proposed that we ask for
what we REALLY want

7:35EPIC
Home Loan Program must move – from Center for Energy
and Environment (CEE) which is closing their Lending Center in November, to
Greater Metro Housing Corp (GMHC), which has offices near by for loan
processing.

MOTION: (CP, MG, Approved.) EPIC will move their
home loan program dollars from CEE to GMHC.

8:05Final
Vote for the Pool: (Moved above 7:45 Parking)

Needed
to receive match from Mdewakanton Sioux.
The other Phillips neighborhoods will also be kicking in the same amount.
EPIC voted on these funds in July, but a second, confirming vote was delayed
due to other urgent matters, and by NCR putting a hold on EPIC funds. We have received letter from Daavid Rubedor confirming the availabilityof this money and we have
been now informed that these funds are already in an appropriate fund in our
NRP Phase I moneys (Parks & Recreation.)

MOTION: (CP, MK. Approved unanimously.) EPIC will
designate $50,000 from Phase I NRP dollars as a matching fund, to fund the
renovation of the Pool at the Phillips Community Center. the Minneapolis Park
Board for the East Phillips Pool.

7:45Parking and Crime issues on 2900 blocks 16th Ave. Moved after
8:05 item by membership’s consensus.

·Parking,crime, properties.

o2930 16th Avenue, property has
multiple problems.

o2908 16th Avenue, many
prostitutes using this property as a business.

·Remove benches on 16th and
Lake, full of prostitutes using these benches. (Lake St. Council doesn’t want
these removed. The old City Inc building – will remove the benches, and cutting
off the electricity. He is checking into getting more lighting on this spot.

·Parking lot of salvation army – folks are
bringing mattresses and camping out. (it wouldn’t hurt to send a letter – if they are not making
changes that are needed. Ask Salvation Army to close the parking lot at night.
Manager is resistance to previous requests.

·Another parking lot – abandoned vehicles.

Suggestions

·Contact the board for The Salvation Army.

·Speed bumps (16th, 17th, Bloomington) –
cost about $12,000; another solution might be to do Murals on the Street, slows
traffic down and calms things in other neighborhoods.

·$1 houses – rehab and increase home ownership, rental units.

·Fill vacant lots on these blocks.

·Citizen’s patrol.

·Survey homeownership on these blocks and try to analyze if
this is impacting long term issues.

·Engage the people who live there – have focus groups on these
blocks, invite residents to attend EPIC meetings.

oAmbassadors could maybe door knock.

Contact EPIC if you
are interested in participating in any of these suggested activities.

Willing to discuss the
bigger problem of incorporating rental issues into conversation in EPIC.

8:15Preparations
for Clean Sweep- For those
of you not familiar with Clean Sweep,
this is the one event
all the 4 Phillips Neighborhoods do together. We have been doing this for over
10 years.

8:30Roof
Depot Building and Land Sale:City wants to
buy for Relocation of Public Works Water Distribution
Center. What do we want in that very transit heavy site. More heavy industry? Neighborhood
Response?? Tour of current existing Site?

CP
presented that the East Phillips plan for this area going back many years shows
this area to be completely residential. This is a high transit area and this
should be apartment buildings or other residential property near the highest
transit intersections in the city. Parents have asked EPIC for help in getting
rid of these industries here, as they are dispersing pollution in our
neighborhood.

8:45An Office for EPIC

We have been seeking an office for some time; we want a
building that is not hard to see/find. It looks like Mark Welna is ready to
restore the building across the street (not the OLD hardware store), and rent
to EPIC. There will be two units eventually on the first floor. CP is working
on bringing a lease agreement to EPIC’s board for approval.

·Approval of the September 6th EPIC Board Minutes (CP, LL)
Approved with correction to p. 2, (*) “When a beautified barrier is installed,
consider inviting The Banyan to take responsibility for maintaining the
barrier.”

MOTION: EPIC
will form a committee to implement the Garden Diversion project in the CPP/NPP
Crime and Safety Budget (2014).(CP, LL) Approved.

Goals for the Garden Diversion Project:

oBeautified Barrier

§Planning committee: Mary, Doug, Carol, Brad

·Approved EPIC design to submit to the traffic department.

·Ask Naomi to sit on the committee to represent The Banyon.

·Find a representative from adjoining blocks.

·Linda will take pictures of examples.

·Coordinate with streetscape project in Midtown.

·Public works is okay with this.

·Traffic dept. needs an form completed and a plan. (Doug).

oWill give guidance on material

oNeed to consider snow material

§Flower Pots at Maria’s

·Someone came up with a forklift truck and trailer and stole
them all.

·New project on Franklin, bolting them down

·Speak to Ventura Village to ask about this.

Announcements

Announcement- We are out from
under the frozen funds thing, but we haven’t seen Lissa Jones’ report. She has
not interviewed the people we suggested. NCR wants to have a meeting where we
all get together in a room.

CP: we shouldn’t do this until we see
the report, after Lissa Jones interviews the individuals we suggested.

LL: Lissa told LL that in her contract
she has a limited amount of time and money to do this project and wasn’t sure
if all these people could fit into her contract, but Lissa would do her best to
speak with those individuals and amend her report at some point, on her own
time, after the contract is done.???

BP: that means it would not be part of
the official report; that doesn’t make sense.

LL: I don’t want to misrepresent what she said; she offered
to somehow interview the people that LL forwarded to her. CP staedCP: this became an
issue because Robert Thompson, when CP said she would sue if necessary, RT had
told LJ from the outset to choose people from both sides of the issue to
interview. This contradicts what LJ previously told LL and makes made CP
realize that NCR is changing the story to try to create the impression that
their actions were fair and unbiased, which they were not in fact.

LL: LJ interviewed only the people
named by Carrie and Alondra. CP and LL articulated to RT that this was not
unbiased.

CP demanded documents related to this
action, citing MN Data Practices Act. She did receive them, and needs to review
them. CP threatened to sue NCR, after consulting an attorney. CP also spoke at
the NRP Policy Board, citing NCR letters, in order, making demands of EPIC:
David Rubedor’s letter of June 27th, EPIC’s letter agreeing to all
demands, the final DR letter where he agreed to unfreeze EPIC funds. After
agreeing to all DR’s demands immediately, EPIC heard nothing from DR for 2.5
months. No one responded to inquiries regarding EPIC funds. In the interim, NCR
put this claim of apparent wrong-doing on public television and claimed that
there had been due process in their actions against EPIC. There was no due process, because there was no policy or process available. NCR doesn't have one.

CP stated that this
should NEVER happen to another neighborhood and demanded that NCR write
policies to prevent it. David Rubedor admitted that his office had mishandled
the situation, but stopped short of an apology. DR unfroze our funds and apparently
told RT to write policies addressing situations when neighborhoods have
disagreements with NCR.

CP stated that she personally will not
finished be with this until no other neighborhood has to go through this.

JB arrived: 11:08

·Garden Meetings:

Next steering committee is Saturday,
March 7, 2015; 9 am at EPPCCC. The next membership meeting is Saturday, April
11th, 2015, same time and place.

EPPCCC’s computer lab has the highest
use by the community by double of all the parks in Mpls. Plans include upgrades
to high-speed internet service, and wi-fi;

Bridging the Digital Divide: Plan to
implement Computer Literacy Program

EPIC will implement a program with
Megan Muffett, Americore Volunteer, to teach classes at East Phillips Park;
EPIC needs to invite folks to sign up. This is being implemented through EPIC’s
East Phillips Park Programming Partnership.

Plan to implement Financial Literacy
Project: Wells Fargo

Another program will begin to implement
Financial Literacy at EPPCCC. Community Action Financial Literacy has closed
down their program; there may only be one other program in Saint Paul. This is
being implemented through a EPIC’s East Phillips Park Programming Partnership.

MOTION: (MG,
LL) Approved. Whereas EPIC’s committees, East Phillips Park Programming
Partnership and the Garden Committee are committees whose work is ongoing and
permanent, therefore, EPIC formally recognizes them as Standing Committees to
be included in the EPIC Bylaws.

Task Forces & Committees

Garden Diversion Project (Barriers/25th
Street)

Ambassadors (Ad-hoc committee)

Housing Committee

10:30Change
in EPIC Home Loan Program: We need to move our
Home Loan Program. We were informed this past month that Center for Energy and
Environment (CEE) will end their Loan Office and close their Lending Center.
CEE is getting out of the business. The other neghborhoods that havae these
loans are all going to put them in to Greater Metro Housing Corp (GMHC). They
have offices near by for loan processing…much easier to reach than CEE. No one
else really does this. We should vote to move our loan program to GMHC and then
should inform CEE that we will be moving EPIC’s Loan Home Programs to Greater
Metro Housing Corp (GMHC).

CP asked board members to print a copy of the CPP Plan and
put it in their board binder,. CP distributed a Summary of the EPIC/NRP Phase
II Action Plan (serves as a guide for Neighborhood Priority Plan.

MOTION: (LL, JB) Approved. EPIC will move all funds remaining in
Goal 2, Objective 1 and 2 to Greater Metro Housing Corporation (GMHC) to be
administered according to the current contract with CEE.

We have about $105,000(Objective 1 and 2) in our housing goals and we need to move it because
CEE is closing most of their housing program, and other neighborhoods are
moving their funds. The best option for EPIC, based on research, is Greater
Metro Housing who has an available loan officer and resources right on Cedar
Ave.

11:05Preparations
for Clean Sweep – For those of you not familiar with
Clean Sweep, this is the oneevent
all the 4 Phillips Neighborhoods do together. We have been doing this for 6
years. My apologies, I missed putting on the proposed agenda the need for EPIC
to put in our share of the cost of the Clean Sweep budget. Each neighborhood is
to put in $1,000 a piece to pay for the trucks and other expenses. The Board is
allowed to pass motions for up to $1,000 without a vote at the community
meeting.

Asked Mark Welna, and he agreed. We need
to decide to move ahead with this. This is a great location, and there really
isn’t another location available. Easily accessible, has security. Funds for an
office are in EPIC’s CPP budget for 2014 – 2016.

Ambassador Task Force met with Don Greeley in September.
Will and Jenny agreed to co-chair. Don gave us materials we can carry along to
distribute. Brad designed an EPIC logo and is arranging to have vests printed
(costs are approximately $5 per vest.) All attendees at the meeting were
approved. People are free to start, but EPIC hasn’t notified the community that
we are doing this. LL needs reimbursement for vests and notepads. CP ordered a
Handbook of the Streets (research piece), and are assembling an overall packet
for ambassadors to carry. Contact: Will Gillian, Jenny Bjorgo.

12:10Final
Vote for the Pool Fund.

EPIC passed a motion in July to approve funding of $50,000
for the pool. David Rubedor sent EPIC a letter stating that we didn’t need an
extra neighborhood vote for these leftover Phase I NRP dollars, since this was
a plan modification that was approved by the entire neighborhood; the funds are
sitting in a “Recreation Fund.” However, the neighborhood approved these funds
for soccer fields, but the funds were not needed for that project, and the
funds have been sitting with the Park Board all this time. Because EPIC’s funds
were frozen, the 2nd vote on the July motion wasn’t held. Time is of
the essence, as the Shakopee matching funds could be lost. CP proposed we
explain this to the community and we present the 2nd motion to the
October membership meeting. This 2nd vote is legal, and in
accordance with our board.

Quorum achieved.
Rosie Cruz arrived. 12:11 pm.

MOTION: (MG, RC) Approved. CP will invite Dean Duvolis to come to
the October meeting, lead the discussion and request the 2nd vote
for the $50,000 matching grant for the pool.

MOTION: (MG, JB) Approved. Ratify the previous motions of the
committee of the whole.

12:20Roof
Depot building and potential land sale to City for Public Works Water
Distribution Center.

CP just received notice about a week ago that the City wants
to purchase the Roof Depot building and put the water distribution center
there. It suggests truck traffic. Alondra Cano has said she is not sure we want
to do this. CP spoke with Steve Kotke, with the city asking what is involved,
can it be made environmentally sensitive, and explained we want the whole
industrial complex out of our neighborhood. The intersection where our main
thoroughfare’s and LRT join, should be housing and this plan suggests a higher
industrial center, and could negatively impact our need for housing in this
area. We need to form a task force to work on this. Goal: study the situation
and the impact, inform the community, to suggest a goal/path, to help determine
what the community’s response should be and execute the planned community
response.

·EPIC has a community plan that specifies residential as our
commitment/goal.

12:25Board
Self Evaluation & Training

Discussed implementing an individual board member
self-evaluation which will be completed periodically by board members. Mary
will work on a form that is specific to EPIC’s board responsibilities.